The Delayed Payment Portal, MSME Samadhan, has come as a respite for entrepreneurs, said Secretary, Union Ministry of MSME Arun Kumar Panda.
Dr Panda said as the portal is serving its purpose. There has been an increase in applications that are being registered on it.
He said as of today as many as 2,900 applications of over Rs 704 crore delayed payments have been registered and accordingly disposal of the cases are being done on a priority basis.
Dr Panda said Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas headed by Dharmendra Pradhan has taken pro-active steps to sort out delayed payments of MSME Sector, which reflects in the portal.
The Union Secretary said the issue of delayed payments to the MSME sector is reviewed at the highest level of the administration and it has eased the problems of the entrepreneurs, who were facing a tough time due to delayed payment.
He urged the State Governments to take the benefit of the portal, which will benefit the MSME entrepreneurs.
The portal will also bring to the notice of the authorities the issue of getting delayed payment from the departments and PSUs of the State Government.
The portal, www.samadhan.msme.gov.in, which aims at empowering micro and small entrepreneurs across the country to directly register their cases relating to delayed payments related to the Ministries and Departments under the Union Government as well as Central Public Sector Enterprises so also all the State Governments and their Public Sector Undertakings (PSU)s.
He said that the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development (MSMED) Act, 2006 contains provisions to deal with cases of delayed payment to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs).
As per the provisions, the buyer is liable to pay compound interest with monthly rests to the supplier on the amount at three times of the bank rate notified by Reserve Bank of India in case he does not make payment to the supplier for supply of goods or services within 45 days of the day of acceptance of the goods/service or the deemed day of acceptance.
The portal will give information about pending payment of MSEs with individual CPSEs / Central Ministries, State Governments, etc.
The CEOs of PSEs and the Secretary of the Ministries and Departments concerned will also be able to monitor the cases of delayed payment under their jurisdiction and issue necessary instructions to resolve the issues.
The information on the portal is available in public domain, thus exerting moral pressure on the defaulting organisations.
The MSEs are empowered to access the portal and monitor their cases of delayed payments.
Earlier, delayed payment issue was handled by MSE Facilitation Council. Over 5,100 applications are pending with a delayed payment amount of over Rs 2,050 crore over the years.
However, with the MSME Samadhan portal in position, issues are sorted out within a stipulated time period and entrepreneurs are reaping the benefits, said Panda.